At today’s meeting in Assisi, Benedict XVI said hate and terrorism are a perversion of religion. But saying “no” to God has also contributed to spur “cruelty and uncontrolled violence"

AP

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27/10/2011

Ultima modifica il 27/10/2011 alle ore 14:22

Benedict XVI was keen for representatives of non-believers to also be present at today’s meeting in Assisi, a pilgrimage for peace that commemorates the first gathering celebrated twenty five years ago at the instigation of John Paul II. It is these non-believers that Ratzinger chose to make reference to, as his speech came to a climax in the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli. Surrounded by the leaders of the world’s big religions, he explained that non-believers “search for the truth, they search for the one true God,” but they have difficulty in finding him because of “the way in which religions are practiced.” The Pope stressed that violence and terrorism can never be justified as they manipulate religion in the name of God. He also recognised, as his predecessor did, that people also chose to resort to “violence in the name of Christian faith.”

The Pope travelled to Assisi as a pilgrim, along with the world’s religious leaders aboard the Frecciargento high speed train. He spoke after listening to speeches made by various religious representatives and by the representative of non-believers, Julia Kristeva. Above all, Benedict XVI cast people’s minds back to the Assisi meeting in 1986. “At that time – he said - the great threat to world peace came from the division of the earth into two mutually opposed blocs.” The symbol of that division was the Berlin Wall, and Ratzinger pointed out how three years after that meeting in Assisi, that wall came down “without bloodshed”. The Pope recognised that the causes that led to the fall of communism are complex, but reminded everyone that “the deepest reason for the event is a spiritual one: behind material might there were no longer any spiritual convictions.” 1989 represented a “victory of freedom” and above all, “a victory of peace”. Ratzinger did, however, admit that freedom and peace did not come after the meeting. “Even if there is no threat of a great war hanging over us at present,” the world is full of discord. Wars are fought and “the world of freedom has proved to be largely directionless.”

The Pope thus presented the two new facets of violence which are poles apart. One of these is terrorism which justifies “any form of cruelty,” attacking “with no regard for the lives of innocent human beings.” We know - Ratzinger affirmed - that terrorism is often religiously motivated and that the specifically religious character of the attacks is proposed as a justification for the reckless cruelty that considers itself entitled to discard the rules of morality for the sake of the intended “good”. In this case, religion does not serve peace, but is used as justification for violence.”

The post-Enlightenment critique of religion, the Pope went on to explain, “has repeatedly maintained that religion is a cause of violence and in this way it has fuelled hostility towards religions.” The Pope said that as religious persons, the fact that religion motivates violence “should be profoundly disturbing to us.” Religion also becomes “the cause of violence when force is used by the defenders of one religion against others.” But this “is not the true nature of religion. It is the antithesis” of it.

Benedict XVI posed the problem of what the real nature of religion is, asking if one common essence of religion does indeed exist. We must ask ourselves these questions, if we wish to argue realistically and credibly against religiously motivated violence,” - he added. And this is the task for interreligious dialogue.

“As a Christian I want to say at this point: yes, it is true, in the course of history, force has also been used in the name of the Christian faith. We acknowledge it with great shame. But it is utterly clear that this was an abuse of the Christian faith, one that evidently contradicts its true nature,” which is that of belief in one God, Father of all, and from him, all people are brothers and sisters.

The second type of violence, mentioned by Benedict XVI, is that which is motivated in precisely the opposite way: “it is the result of God’s absence, his denial and the loss of humanity which goes hand in hand with it.” The denial of God “has led to much cruelty and to a degree of violence that knows no bounds, which only becomes possible when man no longer recognizes any criterion or any judge above himself, now having only himself to take as a criterion. The horrors of the concentration camps reveal with utter clarity the consequences of God’s absence.”

The Pope was not just referring to “state-imposed atheism,” but also to the decline of man, to the “change in the spiritual climate that occurs imperceptibly and hence is all the more dangerous. The worship of mammon, possessions and power is proving to be a counter-religion, in which it is no longer man who counts but only personal advantage.” “The desire for happiness degenerates, for example, into an unbridled, inhuman craving, such as appears in the different forms of drug dependency. There are the powerful that trade in drugs and then the many who are seduced and destroyed by them, physically and spiritually. Force comes to be taken for granted and in parts of the world it threatens to destroy our young people. Because force is taken for granted, peace is destroyed and man destroys himself in this peace vacuum.”

Finally, and this was the most innovative part of the Pope’s speech and of today’s meeting in Assisi, Benedict XVI spoke about non-believers. “In addition to the two phenomena of religion and anti-religion, a further basic orientation is found in the growing world of agnosticism: people to whom the gift of faith has not been given, but who are nevertheless on the lookout for truth, searching for God.” These individuals do not just deny God, they suffer because of his absence and “are inwardly making their way towards Him.”

They ask questions “of both sides. They take away from militant atheists the false certainty by which these claim to know that there is no God and they invite them to leave polemics aside and to become seekers who do not give up hope in the existence of truth and in the possibility and necessity of living by it.”

But non-believers who are searching “challenge the followers of religions not to consider God as their own property, as if he belonged to them, in such a way that they feel vindicated in using force against others.” These people search for the truth, they search for the one true God, “whose image is frequently concealed in the religions because of the ways in which they are often practised. Their inability to find God is partly the responsibility of believers with a limited or even falsified image of God.” So believers’ misinterpretation of their faith pushes away those who do not believe. The inner struggle and questioning of non-believers is “s in part an appeal to believers to purify their faith, so that God, the true God, becomes accessible.”

It is for this reason that Ratzinger also invited delegates representing non-believers to the meeting in Assisi. “It is a case of being together on a journey towards truth, a case of taking a decisive stand for human dignity and a case of common engagement for peace against every form of destructive force.” The Pope ended his speech by assuring that “the Catholic Church will not let up in her fight against violence, in her commitment for peace in the world.”